I just passed my one year anniversary with SARK.  For the first time in several years, I am still happy with a company after one year, and that is definitely good.  I only lasted a year at Avanade (after they had bought GA Sullivan) since I was tired of the traveling.  And before joining SARK, I was at that disaster of a company with that idiot Henry - I won't even bother mentioning it by name.   So I am much better off right now than I had been in the last few years.  SARK has been a lot more stable, and I have felt like the company has treated me and my coworkers well.  Not everything is perfect, but that is pretty much par for the course with any company that I have worked at.  It seems most places have their good and bad points - the goal is to work somewhere where the good points outweigh the bad points. 

To be honest, the bad points I have found in SARK really haven't been that bad.  The one thing that sticks out in my mind is that the camaraderie I share with my current coworkers has not been as great as that I have had with my former coworkers.  That is mostly because I haven't worked on large project teams with my fellow employees - I have mostly been brought in on staffing engagements.  Even though we are trying to grow our .NET business, a majority of our consultants and project work is more Java-focused.  Because of that, I have mostly worked on client teams without many other SARK employees.  That isn't necessarily bad, it just means that I am more of an outsider than some of the other team members.  I am lucky that I have been able to consider some of my former coworkers friends.  The fact that SARK has several sponsored sports teams does help, and I am sure I will be able to consider some of my coworkers friends one day.

As for one of the most important parts of any technology-related job, the project work has been fairly interesting.  I won't say that the projects I have been on have been the most interesting or challenging I have been on, but they haven't been bad.  At least I have woken up in the morning ready to face the day, instead of having that nagging feeling that I hate my job.  About two months ago I rolled off a 6-month project where we did get to use the .NET 2.0 framework, so the opportunities to use the latest and greatest are still there (even though I will be rolling onto another framework 1.1 project next week).  One of my favorite parts of the assignments I have been on is that I have been able to work downtown for two different clients while I have been here.  In my 8 years of consulting, I had never worked in downtown Cincinnati until I got to SARK.  I know some people don't like working downtown because of the parking situation, traffic, the crowds, etc.; but I have rather enjoyed it.  It's just a more vibrant workplace than somewhere like Blue Ash ever was, even if that means another 20 - 30 minutes driving every day.  And, of course, I can't overlook the fact that Brent and I had been able to enjoy plenty of Skyline Thursdays.  That, my friends, is not a trivial benefit!  I am about to roll onto a longer term engagement in Northern Kentucky, so it may be a while before I work downtown again.  But, I am glad I had the opportunity to do it for awhile. 

All in all, the last year of employment with SARK has been good.  The work has been fairly interesting, the entire job has been a lot more stress-free, and I have been treated like a professional.  I actually feel respected here, and I do love the fact that there are so many sponsored social events and sports I can participate in (I did play coed softball for SARK this year - spring and summer session).  Here's to another good year at SARK.